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I was totally enchanted byFlow.
It’s the world, which straddles the real and unreal, and how we’re placed in it.
The effect is that of a tricky balance struckexactlyright.
The protagonist is an ordinary black housecat, whose perspective we become closely attuned to.
As they traverse this new world, these strangers must find ways to coexist.
Flow’s animals are animals, mostly.
Physically, they aren’t anthropomorphized, moving and behaving in ways identifiable with their species.
But they’re also characters, capable of more than acting on instinct.
For example, the sail of this little boat is beyond its sailors, but the rudder is not.
I never felt disconnected from reality, nor did I feel the need to enforce its boundaries.
I never felt disconnected from reality, nor did I feel the need to enforce its boundaries.
The movie is too unreal to be felt.
They were pushed away by it, rather than drawn in and (ideally) challenged by it.
Flowis all about managing the push-and-pull of distancing and immersion.
It feels, at times, like an open-world game…
Flow (2024) follows a solitary animal named Cat who must find refuge and collaborate with other species on a boat after a great flood devastates their home. As they sail through mystical, overflowed landscapes, the group navigates challenges and dangers while adapting to a transformed world.
However disrespectful this may be to video games as an art form, it also gets them fundamentally wrong.
Gamesinvolvetheir players, by their very nature.
Flowis all about managing the push-and-pull of distancing and immersion.
It feels, at times, like anopen-world game, the camera’s gaze curious and exploratory.
The cat may not have been playable, but my investment in its journey was similar.
At the same time, this world is not our own.
Don’t let this one slip by you.
Flowreleases in US theaters on Friday, November 22.
The film is 84 minutes long and is rated PG for peril and thematic elements.
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